Electronic album editing system, electronic album editing method and electronics album editing program

ABSTRACT

There is provided an electronic album editing system having a first storage section for storing a plurality of images captured by a user as an electronic album, a second storage section for storing each electronic album containing a plurality of images captured by cameramen other than the user by correlating with traveling routes of the cameramen of the images contained in the electronic albums, a traveling route calculating section for calculating a traveling route of the user in the plurality of images stored in the first storage section, an album detecting section for detecting an electronic album, out of the plurality of electronic albums stored in the second storage section, corresponding to a traveling route that presents a degree of coincidence of a reference value or more with respect to the calculated traveling route and an editing section for storing the images contained in the detected electronic album to the first storage section.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority from a Japanese PatentApplication No. JP 2005-053611 filed on Feb. 28, 2005, the contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electronic album editing system, anelectronic album editing method and an electronic album editing program.More specifically, the invention relates to an electronic album editingsystem, an electronic album editing method and an electronic albumediting program for editing an electronic album containing a pluralityof images by adding images thereto.

2. Related Art

Digital cameras are rapidly spreading lately. Differing from a silversalt camera for recording an optical image of a subject by exposing on afilm, the digital camera receives light of an optical image of a subjectby using CCD and others and records it in a recording medium such as aflash memory as digital data. Then, utilizing the feature that the imagecaptured by the digital camera is digital data, a technology for keepinga plurality of images altogether as an electronic album has beendisclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-112165 for example.

Suppose a case when a user keeps a plurality of images as an electronicalbum and wants to edit the electronic album by adding images containedin another electronic album to user's own electronic album. In thiscase, the images to be added to the user's electronic album aredesirable to be images related to the images contained in the user'selectronic album, not images randomly sampled out of the otherelectronic album. However, no such method for editing the electronicalbum is provided in the conventional electronic album system asdisclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-112165.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an electronicalbum editing system, an electronic album editing method and anelectronic album editing program which are capable of solving theabove-mentioned problem. This object may be achieved through thecombination of features described in independent claims of theinvention. Dependent claims thereof specify preferable embodiments ofthe invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, according to a firstaspect of the invention, there is provided an electronic album editingsystem having a first storage section for storing a plurality of imagescaptured by a user as an electronic album, a second storage section forstoring each one of a plurality of electronic albums containing aplurality of images captured by cameramen other than the user bycorrelating with traveling routes of the cameramen in the plurality ofimages contained in the electronic albums, a traveling route calculatingsection for calculating a traveling route of the user in the pluralityof images based on an image capturing sequence and image capturing pointof each one of the plurality of images stored in the first storagesection, an album detecting section for detecting an electronic album,out of the plurality of electronic albums stored in the second storagesection, corresponding to a traveling route that presents a degree ofcoincidence of a reference value or more set in advance with respect tothe traveling route calculated by the traveling route calculatingsection and an editing section for editing the electronic album of theuser by storing at least a part of the plurality of images contained inthe electronic album detected by the album detecting section to thefirst storage section.

The editing section may edit the user's electronic album by storingimages, among a plurality of images contained in the electronic albumdetected by the album detecting section, captured at points distant fromimage capturing points of all images stored in the first storage sectionby a preset distance or more to the first storage section. The albumdetecting section may detect one electronic album in the plurality ofelectronic albums stored in the second storage section when a degree ofcoincidence of a traveling route stored in the second storage section bycorrelating with one electronic album with a traveling route calculatedby the traveling route calculating section is a reference value or moreset in advance and a degree of coincidence of a period during which theplurality of images contained in one electronic album has been capturedwith a period during which the plurality of images stored in the firststorage section has been captured is a reference value or more set inadvance.

The electronic album editing system may further include a weight holdingsection for holding weights by correlating with each one of thecameramen in the plurality of electronic albums stored in the secondstorage section and a weight updating section for increasing, when thealbum detecting section detects one electronic album, the weight held bythe weight holding section by correlating with the cameraman of thedetected electronic album, wherein the album detecting section maydetect, out of the weight holding section, the electronic album whoseweight corresponding to the cameraman of each electronic album islargest among the plurality of electronic albums, stored in the secondstorage section, corresponding to the traveling route presenting thedegree of coincidence of the reference value or more set in advance withrespect to the traveling route calculated by the traveling routecalculating section.

The electronic album editing system may further include a travelingroute presenting section for presenting the traveling route calculatedby the traveling route calculating section to the user and a travelingroute change control section for changing the traveling route presentedby the traveling route presenting section by an instruction from theuser, wherein the album detecting section may detect the electronicalbum that corresponds to the traveling route presenting a degree ofcoincidence of the reference value or more set in advance with respectto the traveling route changed by the traveling route change controlsection out of the plurality of electronic albums stored in the secondstorage section.

The electronic album editing system may further include a firsttraveling period specifying section for specifying a traveling periodduring which the user traveled through the traveling route calculated bythe traveling route calculating section from image capturing time anddate further stored in the first storage section by correlating with animage, when the album detecting section detects a plurality ofelectronic albums corresponding to the traveling route presenting thedegree of coincidence of the reference value or more set in advance withrespect to the traveling route calculated by the traveling routecalculating section out of the plurality of electronic albums stored inthe second storage section, and a second traveling period specifyingsection for specifying a traveling period during which the cameramantraveled through the traveling route stored in the second storagesection by correlating with an image contained in the electronic albumdetected by the album detecting section from image capturing time anddate further stored in the second storage section by correlating with animage to record by correlating with the electronic album. Then, thealbum detecting section may detect the electronic album stored in thesecond storage section by correlating with the traveling route recordedby correlating with the traveling period specified by the secondtraveling period specifying section and closest to the traveling periodspecified by the first traveling period specifying section among theplurality of electronic albums detected by the album detecting section.

According to second aspect of the invention, there is provided anelectronic album editing method for editing an electronic albumcontaining a plurality of images, wherein a first storage section storesa plurality of images captured by a user as the electronic album and asecond storage section stores each one of a plurality of electronicalbums containing a plurality of images captured by cameramen other thanthe user by correlating with traveling routes of the cameramen in theplurality of images contained in the electronic albums, and theelectronic album editing method may include a traveling routecalculating step of calculating a traveling route of the user in theplurality of images based on an image capturing sequence and imagecapturing point of each one of the plurality of images stored in thefirst storage section, an album detecting step of detecting anelectronic album corresponding to a traveling route that presents adegree of coincidence of a reference value or more set in advance withrespect to the traveling route calculated in the traveling routecalculating step out of the plurality of electronic albums stored in thesecond storage section, and an editing step of editing the electronicalbum of the user by storing at least a part of the plurality of imagescontained in the electronic album detected in the album detecting stepto the first storage section.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided anelectronic album editing program for operating a computer as anelectronic album editing system having a first storage section forstoring a plurality of images captured by a user as an electronic album,a second storage section for storing each one of a plurality ofelectronic albums containing a plurality of images captured by cameramenother than the user by correlating with traveling routes of thecameramen in the plurality of images contained in the electronic albums,a traveling route calculating section for calculating a traveling routeof the user in the plurality of images based on an image capturingsequence and image capturing point of each one of the plurality ofimages stored in the first storage section, an album detecting sectionfor detecting an electronic album corresponding to a traveling routethat presents a degree of coincidence of reference value or more set inadvance with respect to the traveling route calculated by the travelingroute calculating section out of the plurality of electronic albumsstored in the second storage section, and an editing section for editingthe electronic album of the user by storing at least a part of theplurality of images contained in the electronic album detected by thealbum detecting section to the first storage section.

It is noted that the summary of the invention described above does notnecessarily describe all necessary features of the invention. Theinvention may also be a sub-combination of the features described above.

Thus the invention allows the images desired by the user to add to theuser's electronic album and related with the images contained in theuser's electronic album to be accurately selected and added to the albumin editing the user's electronic album by adding the images captured byother cameramen.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of anelectronic album editing system.

FIG. 2 is a table showing a first storage section.

FIG. 3 is a table showing a second storage section.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing processes in album detectingsection.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing processes in an editing section.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processes in the electronicalbum editing system.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of anelectronic album editing system according to another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing processes in a traveling routechange control section.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view showing processes in the album detectingsection.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of acomputer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be described based on preferred embodiments,which do not intend to limit the scope of the invention, but exemplifythe invention. All of the features and the combinations thereofdescribed in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one exemplary functional configurationof an electronic album editing system 10 according to one embodiment ofthe invention. The electronic album editing system 10 has a firststorage section 100, a traveling route calculating section 110, a secondstorage section 120, an album detecting section 130, a weight holdingsection 140, a weight updating section 150 and an editing section 160.The electronic album editing system 10 edits a user's electronic albumby detecting one electronic album out of a plurality of electronicalbums of other cameramen other than a user of the system and by addingimages contained in the detected electronic album to the user'selectronic album.

A purpose of the electronic album editing system 10 of the presentembodiment is to edit the user's electronic album by adding the imagesrelated with images contained in the user's electronic album byselecting the images to be added to the user's electronic album out ofthe electronic album corresponding to a similar traveling route with atraveling route of the user's electronic album.

The first storage section 100 stores a plurality of images captured bythe user as the electronic album. The first storage section 100 may be arecording medium such as a magnetic storage device such as a hard diskdrive, a semiconductor recording device such as a flash memory, anoptical recording medium such as a CD-R and the like. The travelingroute calculating section 110 calculates the traveling route of the userfollowed in the plurality of images based on an image capturing sequenceand an image capturing point of each one of the plurality of imagesstored in the first storage section 100. Then, the traveling routecalculating section 110 outputs the calculated traveling route to thealbum detecting section 130.

The second storage section 120 stores the plurality of electronic albumscontaining the plurality of images captured by the cameramen other thanthe user. Here, the cameramen of the plurality of electronic albumsstored in the second storage section 120 may be a same person withregard at least a part of the electronic albums or may be differentpersons per each electronic album. The second storage section 120 storestraveling routes of the cameramen of the plurality of images containedin the electronic albums by correlating each one of the plurality ofelectronic albums. The second storage section 120 may be also arecording medium such as a magnetic storage device such as a hard diskdrive, a semiconductor recording device such as a flash memory, anoptical recording medium such as a CD-R and the like. The second storagesection 120 may be also a server opened in Internet or the like forexample.

The album detecting section 130 detects the electronic albumcorresponding to the traveling route that presents a degree ofcoincidence of a reference value or more set in advance with respect tothe traveling route calculated by the traveling route calculatingsection 110 out of the plurality of electronic albums stored in thesecond storage section 120. Then the album detecting section 130 outputsinformation presenting the detected electronic album to the weightupdating section 150 and to the editing section 160. The weight holdingsection 140 holds weights by correlating with each cameraman of theplurality of electronic albums stored in the second storage section 120.It is noted that the album detecting section 130 may detect theelectronic album out of the plurality of electronic albums based on theweight per cameraman held by the weight holding section 140 in detectingthe electronic album corresponding to the traveling route that presentsthe degree of coincidence of the reference value or more with thetraveling route of the user. When the album detecting section 130detects the electronic album, the weight updating section 150 increasesthe weight held by the weight holding section 140 by correlating withthe cameraman of the detected electronic album. Meanwhile, the editingsection 160 edits the user's electronic album by reading at least a partof the plurality of images contained in the electronic album detected bythe album detecting section 130 out of the second storage section 120and by storing them in the first storage section 100.

The electronic album editing system 10 of the present embodiment enablesthe user to edit the user's electronic album by adding images containedin the electronic album of the other cameraman when the user keeps theimages altogether as the electronic album. Here, the images to be addedto the user's electronic album are not images contained in theelectronic album randomly selected among the plurality of electronicalbums of the other cameramen but images selected out of the electronicalbum containing images captured while traveling through the travelingroute that presents the degree of coincidence of the reference value ormore with the traveling route through which the user traveled whilecapturing the images contained in the user's electronic album. It is amatter of course that the image captured in the similar traveling routewith the traveling route of the user's electronic album is highlyrelated with the user's electronic album when it has been captured atthe point closed to the image capturing point of the image captured bythe user. Even if the image has been captured at a point distant fromthe image capturing point of the image captured by the user, it can besaid that the image is highly related with the user's electronic albumin a point that the image is highly possibly what has been captured atthe point or at the nearby point thereof where the user has passed whiletraveling and capturing the users' image. Accordingly, the use of theelectronic album editing system 10 enables the user to edit ownelectronic album by adding the preferable images highly related with theimages contained in the user's electronic album while watching theimages contained in the electronic albums of the other cameramen withoutcarrying out works of manually selecting the images to be added to ownelectronic album.

FIG. 2 is a table showing one example of the first storage section 100of the embodiment. The first storage section 100 stores a plurality ofimages captured by the user, or more specifically, images 200, 210, 220and so on. In addition to them, the first storage section 100 storestime and date when the image has been captured and a point where theimage has been captured, or more specifically, latitude and longitude ofthe image capturing point, by correlating with each image. The travelingroute calculating section 110 detects an image capturing sequence of theplurality of images based on the image capturing time and date of eachof the plurality of images. The traveling route calculating section 110may calculate the traveling route of the user in the plurality of imagesby specifying each one of the image capturing points of the plurality ofimages as a starting point, an arbitrary number of relay points and anending point in the traveling route in accordance to the detected imagecapturing sequence.

FIG. 3 is a table showing one example of the second storage section 120of the embodiment. The second storage section 120 stores the pluralityof electronic albums of the cameramen other than the user, or morespecifically, the electronic albums 300, 310 and so on. The secondstorage section 120 stores the plurality of images contained in each oneof the plurality of albums. More specifically, the second storagesection 120 stores images 302, 304 and so on as the images contained inthe electronic album 300 and stores images 312, 314 and so on as theimages contained in the electronic album 310. Here, the second storagesection 120 stores the image capturing time and date as well as theimage capturing point, or specifically, latitude and longitude of thepoint by correlating with each image.

In addition to them, the second storage section 120 stores travelingroutes of the cameramen of the plurality of images contained in theelectronic albums by correlating with each one of the pluralities ofelectronic albums. For example, the second storage section 120 may storethe traveling route in which each image capturing point in the pluralityof images is set as a starting point, as a relay point of arbitrarynumber or as an ending point in accordance to the image capturingsequence. It is noted that the second storage section 120 is not alwaysnecessary to store the traveling route of the cameraman of theelectronic album in advance by correlating with each one of theelectronic albums and the traveling route may be calculated every timewhen the album detecting section 130 detects the electronic album basedon the image capturing time and date and on the image capturing point ofeach image. However, because the second storage section 120 calculatesand stores the traveling route of the electronic album in advance asshown in the figure, the album detecting section 130 can detect theelectronic album in a short tome as compared to a case of calculatingthe traveling route in the electronic album every time when the albumdetecting section 130 detects the electronic album.

The second storage section 120 also stores information for identifyingthe cameraman of the electronic album by correlating with each one ofthe pluralities of electronic albums. For example, the second storagesection 120 stores the cameraman 306 as the information identifying thecameraman of the electronic album 300 and the cameraman 316 as theinformation for identifying the cameraman of the electronic album 310.It is noted that the weight holding section 140 may store the sameinformation with the information stored in the second storage section120 for identifying each cameraman and the weight of the cameraman bycorrelating from each other.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing exemplary processes in the albumdetecting section 130 of the present embodiment. In the figure, atraveling route 400 represents the traveling route of the user followedin the plurality of images contained in the user's electronic album andcalculated by the traveling route calculating section 110. A travelingroute 410 represents a traveling route stored in the second storagesection 120 by correlating with one electronic album. Suppose here thateach traveling route contains a plurality of image capturing points interms of the images contained in each electronic album as explained inconnection with FIGS. 2 and 3.

For each point contained in the traveling route 410, the album detectingsection 130 calculates a distance between the point and a route closestto the point among a plurality of routes connecting foregoing and backpoints contained in the traveling route 400. For example, the albumdetecting section 130 calculates a distance 420 between Point 412contained in the traveling route 410 and a route connecting Points 402and 404, which is the route closest to Point 412 among the plurality ofroutes contained in the traveling route 400. The album detecting section130 also calculates distances between other points contained in thetraveling route 410 and the routes contained in the traveling route 400in the same manner. Then, the album detecting section 130 calculates asum of squares of the distances calculated with respect to therespective points. An inverse number of the calculated sum of squareshere is one example of a degree of coincidence between the travelingroute 400 and the traveling route 410. The album detecting section 130also calculates the sum of squares described above for each one of theplurality of electronic albums contained in the second storage section120.

Then, the album detecting section 130 detects an electronic album whosecalculated sum of squares is least as the electronic album correspondingto the traveling route having the highest degree of coincidence with thetraveling route 400 of the user's electronic album, i.e., as theelectronic album from which images to be added to the user's electronicalbum are selected. Here, the album detecting section 130 may detect theelectronic album only when the calculated sum of squares is a referencevalue or less set in advance, i.e., only when the degree of coincidencerepresented by the inverse number of the sum of squares is the referencevalue or more set in advance. It is noted that the preset referencevalue of the sum of squares may be an upper limit value of the sum ofsquares of the distances between the traveling route in the user'selectronic album and the traveling route in one electronic album storedin the second storage section 120 in which the user judges that highlyrelated images may be captured in the respective traveling routes, andmay be set in advance by the user and others.

Further, in detecting one electronic album stored in the second storagesection 120 as the electronic album out of which the images to be addedto the user's electronic album are selected, the album detecting section130 may detect one electronic album not only when the degree ofcoincidence between the traveling route in one electronic album and thetraveling route in the user's electronic album and calculated by thetraveling route calculating section 110 is the reference value or more,but also when a degree of coincidence between a period during which theplurality of images contained in one electronic album has been capturedand a period during which the plurality of images contained in theuser's electronic album and stored in the first storage section 100 hasbeen captured is a reference value or more set in advance.

For example, the album detecting section 130 calculates the periodduring which the plurality of images has been captured based on theimage capturing time and date stored in the first storage section 100 bycorrelating with each one of the plurality of images contained in theuser's electronic album. Still more, the album detecting section 130calculates the period during which the plurality of images has beencaptured based on the image capturing time and date stored in the secondstorage section 120 by correlating with each one of the plurality ofimages contained in one electronic album. Then, the album detectingsection 130 detects a period that overlaps with the period calculatedwith respect to the user's electronic album among the periods calculatedwith respect to one electronic album and calculates a rate of thedetected period to the whole period calculated with respect to oneelectronic album. Here, the rate calculated by the album detectingsection 130 is one example of the degree of coincidence between theperiods during which the images in one electronic album and in theuser's electronic album have been captured. Then, the album detectingsection 130 detects one electronic album when the calculated rate is thereference value or more set in advance. Here, the preset reference valueof the calculated rate may be a lower limit value of the rate ofoverlapped period during which the images contained in the user'selectronic album and the images contained in one electronic album havebeen captured and during which the user judges that they are highlyrelated. The user may set it in advance as 0.7 for example.

In detecting the electronic album out of which the images to be added tothe user's electronic album are selected, the electronic album editingsystem 10 of the present embodiment allows the images highly relatedwith the images contained in the user's electronic album, such as imagescaptured in the same season or images captured by a person who traveledtogether, to be accurately selected and to be added to the user'selectronic album by judging not only the degree of coincidence of thetraveling routes but also the degree of coincidence of the imagecapturing periods.

Still more, the album detecting section 130 may detect an electronicalbum, from the weight holding section 140, whose weight correspondingto a cameraman of each electronic album is largest among the pluralityof electronic albums corresponding to the traveling routes that presentthe degree of coincidence of the preset reference value or more withrespect to the traveling route calculated by the traveling routecalculating section 110 and contained in the plurality of electronicalbums stored in the second storage section 120 and may select thedetected electronic album as the electronic album out of which theimages to be added to the user's electronic album are selected. Here,the album detecting section 130 may present the information presentingthe plurality of electronic albums corresponding to the traveling routesthat present the degree of coincidence of the reference value or morewith respect to the traveling route of the user by displaying them on adisplay device provided in the electronic album editing system 10 to letthe user specify the images to be selected out of the plurality ofelectronic albums and to be added to the user's electronic album.

The electronic album editing system 10 of the present embodiment alsoallows the electronic album of the cameraman previously designated bythe user as being a cameraman who captured the images in the travelingroute having a high degree of coincidence or as containing imagessuitable to be added to the user's electronic album to be preferentiallydetected as the electronic album out of which the images to be added tothe user's electronic album are selected. Thereby, even in a case whenthe electronic album editing system 10 automatically detects theelectronic album out of which the images to be added to the user'selectronic album are selected, the electronic album editing system 10can accurately detect the electronic album containing the imagessuitable to be added to the user's electronic album.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing one exemplary process in the editing section160 of the embodiment. This chart explains one exemplary process forselecting the images to be added to the user's electronic album out ofthe electronic album detected by the album detecting section 130. FIG.5A shows the images contained in the user's electronic album per imagecapturing point along the traveling route. FIG. 5B shows the imagescontained in the electronic album of the cameraman other than the userand detected by the album detecting section 130 per image capturingpoint (A through L) along the traveling route.

In FIG. 5B, the image, among the images contained in the detectedelectronic album, captured at point distant from an image capturingpoint of either one image contained in the user's electronic album by adistance below a value set in advance is indicated at the pertinentimage capturing point like Point G for example. Still more, in FIG. 5B,the image, among the images contained in the detected electronic album,captured at point distant from an image capturing point of either oneimage contained in the user's electronic album by a distance above thevalue set in advance is indicated between image capturing points of twoimages contained in the user's electronic album closest to the imagecapturing point of the image like Point D for example. Here, thedistance set in advance may be an upper limit value of the distancebetween the respective image capturing points, where the user judgesthat contents of the respective images would highly resemble each otherbecause the image contained in the user's electronic album and the imagecontained in the detected electronic album were captured at the closepoints, and may be set by the user in advance like 300 meters forexample.

Then, the editing section 160 stores the images, captured at pointsdistant from the image capturing points of all of the images stored inthe first storage section 100 by a distance more than the value set inadvance, among the plurality of images contained in the electronic albumdetected by the album detecting section 130, to the first storagesection 100 to edit the user's electronic album. In concrete, theediting section 160 selects each image captured at Points D, E and K,among the images contained in the electronic album detected by the albumdetecting section 130 shown in FIG. 5B, in which no image captured atpoints close to each other is contained in the user's electronic album,and stores the selected images to the first storage section 100. Theediting section 160 may also display the contents shown in this figureon a display device provided in the electronic album editing system 10to let the user specify the images to be added to the electronic album.

When an image captured in the vicinity of the image capturing point ofthe image contained in the user's electronic album is selected as theimage to be added to the user's electronic album, an image thatresembles with the image already contained in the electronic album mightbe selected. However, the electronic album editing system 10 of thepresent embodiment allows the image captured at the point distant fromthe image capturing point of the image contained in the user'selectronic album to be selected, though their traveling routes arealike, in selecting the image out of the electronic album of thecameraman other than the user. It then allows the image that does notresemble so much with the image contained in the user's electronicalbum, though it may be highly related, such as an image that the usermissed to capture during traveling, and that can enhance the diversityof contents of the electronic album to be selected and added to theuser's electronic album.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing one exemplary flow of process in theelectronic album editing system 10 of the embodiment. At first, thetraveling route calculating section 110 calculates the traveling routeof the user in the plurality of images based on the image capturingsequence and image capturing point in each one of the plurality ofimages contained in the user's electronic album and stored in the firststorage section 100 in Step S1000. Then, the album detecting section 130detects the electronic album, out of the plurality of electronic albumsstored in the second storage section 120, that corresponds to atraveling route presenting the degree of coincidence of the referencevalue or more set in advance with respect to the traveling routecalculated by the traveling route calculating section 110 in Step S1010.Here, the album detecting section 130 may detect the electronic albumbased further on the weight per cameraman in the electronic album heldby the weight holding section 140. Then, the album detecting section 130judges whether or not it could detect the electronic album correspondingto the traveling route presenting the degree of coincidence of thereference value or more to the traveling route of the user in StepS1020. When it is judged that the album detecting section 130 hasdetected the electronic album (Yes in Step S1020), the weight updatingsection 150 increases the weight held by the weight holding section 140by correlating with the cameraman of the detected electronic album inStep S1030. Then, the editing section 160 reads at least a part of theplurality of images contained in the electronic album detected by thealbum detecting section 130 out of the second storage section 120 andstores them in the first storage section 100 to edit the user'selectronic album in Step S1040.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of theelectronic album editing system 10 according to another embodiment. Theelectronic album editing system 10 of this embodiment has a travelingroute presenting section 170, a traveling route change control section172, a first traveling period specifying section 180 and a secondtraveling period specifying section 182. It is noted that the electronicalbum editing system 10 of the present embodiment may have a part orwhole of the configuration and function of the electronic album editingsystem 10 explained above in connection with FIGS. 1 through 6. Thetraveling route calculating section 110 outputs the calculated travelingroute to the traveling route presenting section 170 and to the travelingroute change control section 172. The traveling route presenting section170 presents the traveling route received from the traveling routecalculating section 110 to the user. In concrete, the traveling routepresenting section 170 displays the traveling route of the user to adisplay section such as a monitor so that the user can visuallyrecognize the traveling route. For example, the traveling routepresenting section 170 may display a map of an area containing thetraveling route so as to display points indicating the image capturingpoints in the traveling route while overlapping with the map. Thetraveling route presenting section 170 may also display the travelingroute by connecting the plurality of image capturing points in thetraveling route by lines for example.

The traveling route change control section 172 enables the user tochange the traveling route presented by the traveling route presentingsection 170. In concrete, the traveling route change control section 172may change the traveling route by enabling the user to change at least apart of the image capturing points in the traveling route of the usercalculated by the traveling route calculating section 110. For example,the traveling route change control section 172 may change the travelingroute by enabling the user to move the image capturing points in thetraveling route presented by the traveling route presenting section 170to points desired by the user. The traveling route change controlsection 172 outputs the traveling route changed by the user to thetraveling route presenting section 170 so that the traveling routepresenting section 170 displays the changed traveling route. Thetraveling route change control section 172 outputs the changed travelingroute also to the traveling route calculating section 110. The travelingroute calculating section 110 outputs the changed traveling routereceived from the traveling route change control section 172 to thealbum detecting section 130.

The album detecting section 130 detects an electronic album, out of theplurality of electronic albums stored in the second storage section 120,corresponding to a traveling route presenting a degree of coincidence ofthe reference value or more set in advance with respect to the travelingroute changed by the traveling route change control section 172. Then,the editing section 160 stores at least a part of the plurality ofimages contained in the electronic album detected by the album detectingsection 130 to the first storage section 100.

The electronic album editing system 10 of the present embodiment allowsthe traveling route to be changed by presenting the traveling route ofthe user and by enabling the user to change the image capturing pointsin the presented traveling route. It then allows the electronic albumcorresponding to the changed traveling route to be detected based on thechanged traveling route and the images contained in the detectedelectronic album to be stored in the user's electronic album. Thus, itcan increase the satisfaction of the user because it allows the image atthe point where the user wanted to capture but could not to be stored inthe user's electronic album.

Furthermore, the first storage section 100 outputs the image capturingtime and date stored by correlating with the image to the firsttraveling period specifying section 180 based on a control of the firsttraveling period specifying section 180. The second storage section 120outputs the image capturing time and date stored by correlating with theimage to the second traveling period specifying section 182 based on acontrol of the second traveling period specifying section 182. Then,suppose a case when the album detecting section 130 detects a pluralityof electronic albums, out of the plurality of electronic albums storedin the second storage section 120, corresponding to a traveling routepresenting a degree of coincidence of the reference value or more set inadvance with respect to the traveling route calculated by the travelingroute calculating section 110. In such a case, the first travelingperiod specifying section 180 receives the image capturing time and datestored by correlating with the image by the first storage section 100.Then, the first traveling period specifying section 180 specifies aperiod during which the user traveled through the traveling routecalculated by the traveling route calculating section 110 from the imagecapturing time and date received from the first storage section 100.

In concrete, when the album detecting section 130 detects the pluralityof electronic albums corresponding to the traveling route presenting thedegree of coincidence of the reference value or more set in advance withrespect to the traveling route calculated by the traveling routecalculating section 110, the album detecting section 130 feeds theinformation on the traveling route calculated by the traveling routecalculating section 110 to the first traveling period specifying section180 to work on the first traveling period specifying section 180 so thatit specifies the traveling period during which the user traveled throughthe traveling route. The first traveling period specifying section 180specifies the image capturing time and date stored by the first storagesection 100 by correlating with the image used by the traveling routecalculating section 110 in calculating the traveling route from thereceived information on the traveling route. Then, the first travelingperiod specifying section 180 specifies the traveling period duringwhich the user traveled through the traveling route from the specifiedimage capturing time and date. The traveling period may be specified inunit of Month, Day and Year as well as Time and Minute.

The second traveling period specifying section 182 specifies a travelingperiod during which the cameraman traveled through the traveling routestored in the second storage section 120 by correlating with the imagescontained in the electronic album detected by the album detectingsection 130 from the image capturing time and date also stored bycorrelating with the images in the second storage section 120 andrecords it by correlating with the electronic album. In concrete, whenthe album detecting section 130 detects the plurality of electronicalbums corresponding to the traveling route presenting the degree ofcoincidence of the reference value or more set in advance with respectto the traveling route calculated by the traveling route calculatingsection 110, the album detecting section 130 feeds the information onthe detected electronic album to the second traveling period specifyingsection 182 to work on the second traveling period specifying section182 so that it specifies the traveling period during which the cameramantraveled through the traveling route stored in the second storagesection 120 by correlating with the images contained in the electronicalbum. The second traveling period specifying section 182 specifies theimage capturing time and date stored in the second storage section 120by correlating with the images contained in the electronic album fromthe received information on the electronic album. Then, the secondtraveling period specifying section 182 specifies the traveling periodduring which the cameraman traveled through the traveling route from thespecified image capturing time and date.

The first traveling period specifying section 180 and the secondtraveling period specifying section 182 output the specified travelingperiods of the user and the cameraman to the album detecting section130, respectively. Then, the album detecting section 130 detects theelectronic album stored in the second storage section 120 by correlatingwith the traveling route recorded by correlating with the travelingperiod specified by the second traveling period specifying section 182,which is closest to the traveling period specified by the firsttraveling period specifying section 180, among the plurality ofelectronic albums detected by the album detecting section 130. Next, theediting section 160 edits the user's electronic album by storing atleast a part of the plurality of images contained in the electronicalbum detected by the album detecting section 130 to the first storagesection 100.

When the album detecting section 130 detects the plurality of electronicalbums corresponding to the traveling route presenting the degree ofcoincidence of the reference value or more set in advance with respectto the traveling route of the user, the electronic album editing system10 of the present embodiment allows the electronic album correspondingto the traveling period during which the cameraman traveled and which isclosest to the traveling period during which the user traveled to bedetected and the images stored in the detected electronic album to becaptured into the user's electronic album. Thereby, images capturedduring a traveling period which is totally different from the travelingperiod during which the user traveled through the traveling route willnot be stored in the user's electronic album, so that it becomespossible to avoid an electronic album from being prepared that wouldotherwise give a sense of incompatibility to the user by taking in theimages captured at different periods.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing one exemplary process in thetraveling route change control section 172 of the embodiment. Thetraveling route change control section 172 enables the user to changethe traveling route presented by the traveling route presenting section170. In concrete, the traveling route change control section 172 enablesthe user to select at least a part of a plurality of image capturingpoints contained in the traveling route presented by the traveling routepresenting section 170. The traveling route change control section 172may then change the traveling route by moving the image capturing pointselected by the user to the point desired by the user within a range ofan area presented by the traveling route presenting section 170. Forexample, suppose a case when the traveling route presenting section 170has presented a traveling route 50 containing Points 500, 502, 504, 506and 508 to the user as the traveling route of the user as shown in FIG.8. Suppose also here that the user wants to have an image captured atPoint 510. In such a case, the traveling route change control section172 changes the traveling route by enabling the user to select Point 506for example and by moving Point 506 to Point 510. Thereby, the travelingroute change control section 172 can change the traveling route from thetraveling route 50 to a traveling route 52 that passes through Point500, 502, 504, 510 and 508.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view showing one exemplary process in the albumdetecting section 130 of the present embodiment. Suppose a case when thealbum detecting section 130 detects a plurality of electronic albumscorresponding to the traveling route presenting the degree ofcoincidence of the reference value or more set in advance with respectto the traveling route calculated by the traveling route calculatingsection 110 out of the plurality of electronic albums stored in thesecond storage section 120. For example, suppose that the albumdetecting section 130 detects traveling routes 70 and 80 as thetraveling routes presenting the degree of coincidence of the referencevalue or more set in advance with respect to a traveling route 60 whenthe traveling route calculated by the traveling route calculatingsection 110 is the traveling route 60.

In such a case, the first traveling period specifying section 180specifies a traveling period during which the user traveled through thetraveling route 60 calculated by the traveling route calculating section110 from image capturing time and date also stored in the first storagesection 100 by correlating with images. For example, while the usertraveled through the traveling route 60 from Points 600 to 610, thefirst traveling period specifying section 180 specifies the travelingperiod during which the user traveled through the traveling route 60from the image capturing time and date stored in the first storagesection 100 by correlating with an image captured at Point 600 and theimage capturing time and date stored in the first storage section 100 bycorrelating with an image captured at Point 610. For example, the firsttraveling period specifying section 180 specifies the traveling periodduring which the user traveled through the traveling route 60 like“January o thru Δ, 2005.”

Meanwhile, the second traveling period specifying section 182 specifiesthe traveling periods during which the cameramen traveled through thetraveling routes 70 and 80 stored in the second storage section 120 bycorrelating with images contained in the plurality of electronic albumsdetected by the album detecting section 130 from the image capturingtime and date also stored in the second storage section 120 bycorrelating with the images. For example, while the user traveled fromPoints 700 to 710 in the traveling route 70, the second traveling periodspecifying section 182 specifies the traveling period during which theuser traveled through the traveling route 70 from image capturing timeand date stored in the second storage section 120 by correlating with animage captured at Point 700 and image capturing time and date stored inthe second storage section 120 by correlating with an image captured atPoint 710.

Suppose that the second traveling period specifying section 182specifies the traveling period during which the user traveled throughthe traveling route 70 is “August □ thru x, 2004” for example. Thesecond traveling period specifying section 182 also specifies thetraveling period during which the user traveled through the travelingroute 80 in the same manner. Suppose that the second traveling periodspecifying section 182 specifies the traveling period during which theuser traveled through the traveling route 80 is “January o thru x, 2003”for example. It is noted that the traveling period may be a range ofMonth, Day and Year, a range of Hour and Minute or a predeterminedperiod, e.g., a season. For example, based on Month of the travelingperiod specified by the first traveling period specifying section 180and the second traveling period specifying section 182, a seasoncorresponding to that Month may be specified as the traveling period.

Then, the album detecting section 130 detects the electronic albumstored in the second storage section 120 by correlating with thetraveling route recorded by correlating with the traveling periodspecified by the second traveling period specifying section 182 andclosest to the traveling period specified by the first traveling periodspecifying section 180. For example, the album detecting section 130 maydetect the electronic album stored in the second storage section 120 bycorrelating with the traveling route 80 corresponding to the travelingperiod closest to the traveling period of the traveling route 60specified by the first traveling period specifying section 180. Then,the editing section 160 edits the user's electronic album by storing atleast a part of the plurality of images contained in the electronicalbum detected by the album detecting section 130 to the first storagesection.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing one exemplary hardware configurationof a computer 1500 of the embodiment. The computer 1500 of the presentembodiment has a CPU peripheral section having a CPU 1505, a RAM 1520, agraphic controller 1575 and a display device 1580 mutually connected bya host controller 1582, an input/output section having a communicationinterface 1530, a hard disk drive 1540 and a CD-ROM drive 1560 connectedwith the host controller 1582 via an input/output controller 1584 and alegacy input/output section having a ROM 1510, a flexible disk drive1550 and an input/output chip 1570 connected with the input/outputcontroller 1584.

The host controller 1582 connects the RAM 1520, the CPU 1505 thataccesses the RAM 1520 at high transfer rate and the graphic controller1575. The CPU 1505 operates based on programs stored in the ROM 1510 andthe RAM 1520 to control the respective sections. The graphic controller1575 obtains image data generated by the CPU 1505 and others on a framebuffer provided within the RAM 1520 to display on the display device1580. Instead of that, the graphic controller 1575 may contain the framebuffer for storing the image data generated by the CPU 1505 and others.

The input/output controller 1584 connects the host controller 1582, thecommunication interface 1530, which is a relatively fast input/outputdevice, the hard disk drive 1540 and the CD-ROM, drive 1560. Thecommunication interface 1530 communicates with other devices via anetwork. The hard disk drive 1540 stores programs and data used by theCPU 1505 within the computer 1500. The CD-ROM drive 1560 reads theprogram or data out of the CD-ROM 1595 and provides it to the hard diskdrive 1540 via the RAM 1520.

The input/output controller 1584 is connected with the relatively slowinput/output devices of the ROM 1510, the flexible disk drive 1550 andthe input/output chip 1570. The ROM 1510 stores a boot program executedby the computer 1500 in starting the system and programs and the likedependent on the hardware of the computer 1500. The flexible disk drive1550 reads a program or data out of a flexible disk 1590 and provides itto the hard disk drive 1540 via the RAM 1520. The input/output chip 1570connects the flexible disk drive 1550 with the various input/outputdevices via parallel ports, serial ports, keyboard ports, mouse portsand the like.

An electronic album editing program provided to the hard disk drive 1540via the RAM 1520 is stored in the flexible disk 1590, the CD-ROM 1595 orthe recording medium such as an IC card to be provided to the user. Theelectronic album editing program is read out of the recording medium tobe installed to the hard disk drive 1540 within the computer 1500 viathe RAM 1520 and to be executed in the CPU 1505. The electronic albumediting program installed and executed in the computer 1500 works on theCPU 1505 and others to operate the computer 1500 as the electronic albumediting system 10 explained in connection with FIGS. 1 through 9.

The program described above may be stored in an outside recordingmedium. Beside the flexible disk 1590 and the CD-ROM 1595, an opticalrecording medium such as DVD and PD, a taped medium, a semiconductormemory such as an IC card may be used as the recording medium. Stillmore, a hard disk provided in a server system connected with a privatecommunication network or Internet, or a storage unit such as a RAM maybe used as the recording medium and the program may be provided to thecomputer 1500 via the network.

Although the invention has been described by way of the exemplaryembodiments, it should be understood that those skilled in the art mightmake many changes and substitutions without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

It is obvious from the definition of the appended claims that theembodiments with such modifications also belong to the scope of theinvention.

1. An electronic album editing system, comprising: a first storagesection for storing a plurality of images captured by a user as anelectronic album; a second storage section for storing each one of aplurality of electronic albums containing a plurality of images capturedby cameramen other than said user by correlating with traveling routesof said cameramen in said plurality of images contained in saidelectronic albums; a traveling route calculating section for calculatinga traveling route of said user in said plurality of images based on animage capturing sequence and image capturing point of each one of saidplurality of images stored in said first storage section; an albumdetecting section for detecting an electronic album, out of saidplurality of electronic albums stored in said second storage section,corresponding to a traveling route that presents a degree of coincidenceof a reference value or more set in advance with respect to thetraveling route calculated by said traveling route calculating section;and an editing section for editing said electronic album of said user bystoring at least a part of the plurality of images contained in saidelectronic album detected by said album detecting section to said firststorage section.
 2. The electronic album editing system as set forth inclaim 1, wherein said editing section edits said user's electronic albumby storing images, among a plurality of images contained in theelectronic album detected by said album detecting section, captured atpoints distant from image capturing points of all images stored in saidfirst storage section by a preset distance or more to said first storagesection.
 3. The electronic album editing system as set forth in claim 1,wherein said album detecting section detects one electronic album in theplurality of electronic albums stored in said second storage sectionwhen a degree of coincidence of a traveling route stored in said secondstorage section by correlating with one electronic album with atraveling route calculated by said traveling route calculating sectionis reference value or more set in advance and a degree of coincidence ofa period during which the plurality of images contained in oneelectronic album has been captured with a period during which theplurality of images stored in said first storage section has beencaptured is a reference value or more set in advance.
 4. The electronicalbum editing system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising: aweight holding section for holding weights by correlating with each oneof said cameramen in the plurality of electronic albums stored in saidsecond storage section; and a weight updating section for increasing,when said album detecting section detects one electronic album, saidweight held by said weight holding section by correlating with saidcameraman of said detected electronic album; wherein said albumdetecting section detects, out of said weight holding section, theelectronic album whose weight corresponding to said cameraman of eachelectronic album is largest among the plurality of electronic albums,stored in said second storage section, corresponding to the travelingroute presenting the degree of coincidence of the reference value ormore set in advance with respect to the traveling route calculated bysaid traveling route calculating section.
 5. The electronic albumediting system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising: a travelingroute presenting section for presenting the traveling route calculatedby said traveling route calculating section to the user; and a travelingroute change control section for changing the traveling route presentedby said traveling route presenting section by an instruction from theuser; wherein said album detecting section detects the electronic albumthat corresponds to the traveling route presenting a degree ofcoincidence of the reference value or more set in advance with respectto the traveling route changed by said traveling route change controlsection out of the plurality of electronic albums stored in said secondstorage section.
 6. The electronic album editing system as set forth inclaim 1, further comprising: a first traveling period specifying sectionfor specifying a traveling period during which the user traveled throughthe traveling route calculated by said traveling route calculatingsection from image capturing time and date further stored in said firststorage section by correlating with an image, when said album detectingsection detects a plurality of electronic albums corresponding to thetraveling route presenting the degree of coincidence of the referencevalue or more set in advance with respect to the traveling routecalculated by said traveling route calculating section out of theplurality of electronic albums stored in said second storage section;and a second traveling period specifying section for specifying atraveling period during which said cameraman traveled though thetraveling route stored in said second storage section by correlatingwith an image contained in the electronic album detected by said albumdetecting section from image capturing time and date further stored insaid second storage section by correlating with an image to record bycorrelating with said electronic album; wherein said album detectingsection detects the electronic album stored in said second storagesection by correlating with the traveling route recorded by correlatingwith the traveling period specified by said second traveling periodspecifying section and closest to the traveling period specified by saidfirst traveling period specifying section among said plurality ofelectronic albums detected by said album detecting section.
 7. Anelectronic album editing method for editing an electronic albumcontaining a plurality of images; wherein a first storage section storesa plurality of images captured by a user as the electronic album; and asecond storage section stores each one of a plurality of electronicalbums containing a plurality of images captured by cameramen other thansaid user by correlating with traveling routes of said cameramen in saidplurality of images contained in said electronic albums; and saidelectronic album editing method comprising: a traveling routecalculating step of calculating a traveling route of said user in saidplurality of images based on an image capturing sequence and imagecapturing point of each one of said plurality of images stored in saidfirst storage section; an album detecting step of detecting anelectronic album corresponding to a traveling route that presents adegree of coincidence of a reference value or more set in advance withrespect to the traveling route calculated in said traveling routecalculating step out of said plurality of electronic albums stored insaid second storage section; and an editing step of editing saidelectronic album of said user by storing at least a part of theplurality of images contained in said electronic album detected in saidalbum detecting step to said first storage section.
 8. A computerreadable media containing an electronic album editing program foroperating a computer as an electronic album editing system, comprising:a first storage section for storing a plurality of images captured by auser as an electronic album; a second storage section for storing eachone of a plurality of electronic albums containing a plurality of imagescaptured by cameramen other than said user by correlating with travelingroutes of said cameramen in said plurality of images contained in saidelectronic albums; a traveling route calculating section for calculatinga traveling route of said user in said plurality of images based on animage capturing sequence and image capturing point of each one of saidplurality of images stored in said first storage section; an albumdetecting section for detecting an electronic album corresponding to atraveling route that presents a degree of coincidence of reference valueor more set in advance with respect to the traveling route calculated bysaid traveling route calculating section out of said plurality ofelectronic albums stored in said second storage section; and an editingsection for editing said electronic album of said user by storing atleast a part of the plurality of images contained in said electronicalbum detected by said album detecting section to said first storagesection.